The Secrets of Professor Snape
by MeredithAnn109
Summary: When a new student comes to Hogwarts, Professor Snape develops a friendship with her...There are complications along the way...I suck at summaries :)
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters, J.K. Rowling is the genius behind them. Melanie is my own creation :)

"Harry, there's a new girl down the table," Ron whispered, poking his best friend in the side. The boy who lived, along with his two best friends were enjoying their beginning-of-term feast, and now all turned to see who Ron was talking about. Sitting near the end of the Gryffindor table was a smiling girl with short brown hair, that had a slightly punk edge to it.

"Looks like one of those...oh, what do Muggles call it?...Panks?" Ron said, still not taking his eyes off of her.

"Punk," Hermione corrected him, "And would you stop staring?" But it was no use, Harry had joined in the obvious gawking.

News spreads fast at Hogwarts, and so by the time everyone returned to their dormitories, they all had a basic life story of Melanie. Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed towards their favorite chairs by the fire place in their common room, but they saw Melanie telling a group of wide-eyed first years about her.

"Okay...so, my name is Melanie Patch. Both of my parents are Muggles, but when they found out I was accepted here, they were really happy and supportive. I love acting and singing and shopping, and I am so happy to be here!"

"Ron! Harry!" Hermione impatiently hissed. The guys had not realized that they were listening to Melanie, probably for the fifth time. It took a few more minutes of prodding, but they eventually each heaved a sigh and headed towards their rooms.

The next day was the first day of classes. As Harry and Ron stood in the stairwell comparing schedules, Melanie swept past, exclaiming, "I've got Potions first thing this morning! Sounds exciting!"

Harry stifled a laugh and Ron called after her, "You'll regret saying that later!"

The first class of the term went pretty well for Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and as they were walking to their next class, Melanie walked past, grinning. When she saw who she passed, she turned around and happily walked back.

"How was Potions?" Harry asked, "Dreadful?"

"What?! Oh, no, it was wonderful!"

"Oh, I get it, you're in denial, right?" Ron asked.

"No! I'm serious! Professor Snape gave me five points for our house...isn't that great?" she asked, her eyes glowing.

Hermione nearly choked on her chocolate frog she was eating. "You!? He actually gave a Gryffindor points??"

"Yup! He said that I don't flaunt my knowledge, but that I use it wisely!"

As she, well, skipped down the hallway, Hermione practically had smoke coming out of her ears. "Do you think she knew he was talking about me?"

Ron opened his mouth to say something, probably how Hermione had basically called herself a know-it-all, but closed it quickly, thinking better of it.

They spent the rest of the day not only getting back into the routine of school, but also wondering what quality Melanie had that made Snape act civil towards her. By the end of the day, they had not reached a conclusion, but knew that becoming friends with Melanie may be better than they thought.

Hermione wanted to get a start on this friendship that evening, but they did not see her at dinner, nor in the common room that night. Harry didn't realize until much later that night that there was someone else missing from dinner.

"Ron, you awake?" Harry asked.

"Enhh?? What?...Oh...Harry, what's wrong?"

"Who else was missing from dinner tonight, Ron?"

"What? Do you really think I took role call?"

"No! But were we not without sneering glares?"

"Bloody hell! Where was Snape?" Ron asked so loudly that Neville woke up. A few minutes later, he was back asleep, and Ron and Harry continued talking, now much quieter.

"I haven't a clue," Harry said, "But I am thinking that Melanie might."

Ron agreed, and they decided to tell Hermione about their theory the next morning, then figure out what Melanie and Snape were doing during dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

"Melanie, I'd like to see you after class," Snape said as the students were hastily leaving their first potions class.

'Uh oh,' Melanie thought, 'Maybe Ron and Harry were right about him being an old git.'

When everyone had left the classroom, Melanie slowly walked to his desk. "You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked, sounding meek for her first time at Hogwarts.

"First of all," Snape began, still speaking in his usual low voice, but with a slight twinkle in his eye, "Please go back to being your usual peppy self. It's so much more refreshing."

"Sure thing professor!" she replied, back to grinning.

"Secondly...I never thought I'd be saying this to a Gryffindor, much less a female one...I'm going to give you five points for your house. Now—don't interrupt me. You have no idea how easily I may change my mind. But it was so nice in class today, having someone to look to for the correct answer, without her flaunting it."

"Thank you professor," Melanie said, again meekly.

"No, thank you...tell you what. You meet me at my office at suppertime tonight. I think we can have a nice meal together. The password is Minus Points."

"So you're telling me that you think Melanie and Snape were somewhere together last night?" Hermione asked, looking from Ron to Harry.

"Yes," they replied in unison, then Ron laughed and said they had a Fred and George moment.

"Well," she said slowly, "If they're not at dinner again tonight, then we will know something is going on. Harry, bring the invisibility cloak and Marauder's Map with you to dinner. Now you two have got me curious!"

They did not have to wait long to see if their theory was right. That night, Melanie and Snape were both missing from dinner, and sure enough, the Marauder's Map showed them both in Snape's private quarters.

Ron wanted to find a way into Snape's office, but Hermione quickly stopped him, saying that getting caught by Snape would be too easy, and being punished by him would be terrible. They decided to wait until the next day, Saturday, and spend the day investigating.


	3. Chapter 3

"Minus points," Melanie said, waiting for the door to Snape's private quarters to open. After their interesting, and, well, fun night the night before, Snape invited her back tonight, promising another fun time. The previous night was full of sharing life stories (although Snape shared a lot less than Melanie), laughter over very random things, and a genuinely good time. Melanie smiled, remembering it, then wondered why Harry and Ron hated Snape so much.

"Hiya Severus!" she happily said, then, noticing the troubled look on his face, asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Snape muttered.

"What's going on? Yesterday we were totally fine talking to each other..."

"I know," he said, now looking almost vulnerable, "Thinking about my past yesterday made me think about when I was your age, that's all."

"You mean when you went to school here with James and Sirius and everyone?"

Snape flinched slightly at the mention of Harry's father and godfather, but simply nodded.

"Well? What happened?" Melanie pressed. This was the topic that he had constantly moved away from yesterday, and Melanie was very curious why.

"Harry Potter's father and his little gang had one goal when we went to school here," Snape sighed, looking as though he was reliving whatever experiences he had in his head, "And that was to make my time here horrible in every way possible."

"So that's why—" Melanie blurted out, but quickly stopped herself. Mentioning Harry didn't seem like the best idea now.

"Yes?" Snape asked, waiting for her to go on.

"Oh, nothing," she lied, then asked, "What did they do to you?"

"Everything they could," he replied, "Public humiliation, typical teenage things, whatever little pranks they could think of..."

"That's terrible," Melanie said, now fully understanding why Harry felt that Snape hated him.

"Are you friends with that Potter boy?"

"Not really...he's nice enough, but all he's ever talked about with me is how much he hates Potions class."

"Just like his father..." Snape said, "Let me know if he does anything that seems like something the Marauder's would have done...can you do that?"

"Sure," Melanie said, "After all his father did to you, I'll be sure to keep an eye on him."

Soon after that, Snape suggested that she go back to the Gryffindor common room and try to be as friendly as possible with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

This was easier said than done, as soon as she arrived in the common room, the three noticed her and quickly stopped talking about whatever it was held them deep in discussion.

"Y'know, Hogwarts food is very good," Ron said, a little too loudly. "Although some people wouldn't know," he added, very pointedly, still trying to look as though the three were still talking.

"I'm not stupid, you know," she snapped, but then remembered the spying hob she had promised Snape. "I'm sorry I've missed supper the past few days," she sweetly added.

She could not help but notice the incredulous glances exchanged, then Hermione looked to Harry, who nodded ever so slightly, then she said, "That's okay...want to work on your homework with us?"

"Okay!" Melanie exclaimed. They were making this so much easier for her!

By the time Ron had practically dozed off, Melanie had learned Harry's opinions on Snape (because he was assigned extra homework from him, he was in the mood to complain). With every mean comment he made about Snape, Melanie found it harder and harder not to say anything in Snape's defense, but she knew that she had to at least pretend to befriend them.

Hermione yawned, and announced that she was going to bed. When she left, Melanie asked Harry if she could borrow his invisibility cloak that night.

"Why?" Harry suspiciously asked.

"I want to...go up to the library later, and do more...research."

"Okay...I'll let you take the Marauder's Map with you, too. If they catch you and take away the cloak, I don't know what I would do."

'Perfect,' thought Melanie, 'I'll just go talk to Snape, and Harry won't know where I am since I'll have the Map!'

Harry got Melanie the cloak and map, woke up Ron, who was asleep sprawled out on a chair, and wished her luck.


	4. Chapter 4

Sneaking around the castle at night was much easier than Melanie expected. The only time she encountered someone else was when Professor Trelawney walked down the other side of the hall, muttering something about an early death for Harry.

"Minus Points," she whispered, hoping that the door would open quietly and that Snape would still be awake. Luckily, she was right on both counts; the door silently opened, and Snape was sitting in an armchair, reading.

Snape was so engrossed in his book that he didn't notice anyone was in there. It took Melanie a minute to realize that she was still wearing the invisibility cloak. "Professor Snape?" she asked, now removing it.

"Melanie? What are you doing here? Is everything alright?" Snape quickly asked, dropping the book.

"Oh, most everything's okay," Melanie replied, sitting down in the opposite chair, "It's just that I don't know if I can take this spying thing any longer...Harry was saying horrible things about you this evening, and it was all I could do not to say anything in your defense."

"How did you manage to get his cloak, then?" Snape asked.

"Oh! Well, I told him that I wanted to go study in the library tonight, so he lent me it."

"Melanie, I'm very surprised that the Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor. You seem much to cunning, more a Slytherin...wait a minute. How did you come here without Harry knowing? Doesn't he have that blasted map?"

"Oh, the Marauder's Map? He let me borrow that, too. Told me to use it so that I wouldn't get caught."

Snape smiled, then asked Melanie he could see the map. After she said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," the contents of were revealed to Snape, who had been waiting a very long time to see something other than insults on it.

"So this is what those four dunderheads spent all of their time working on," Snape murmured, watching the tiny dots marking every person in Hogwarts.

Melanie made some tea and sat and talked with Snape for quite a few hours. It was soon very late at night, so she stood up and got ready to go.

As Snape was folding up the Marauder's Map for her, his robe sleeve got caught on the edge of the table, exposing his Dark Mark from his Death Eater days. Melanie gasped and hurriedly stopped putting the cloak on. Just as fast, Snape fixed his sleeve and tried to nonchalantly go back to his tea.

"Wh-what was that?" Melanie asked. She knew what that mark was associated with, but didn't want to admit that to herself.

"Huh? Oh...umm...just a...tattoo from my...bike days?"

"I'm not stupid," Melanie firmly replied. "I know that that came from. Why didn't you tell me you were...one of them? How are you here now?" Questions were racing through her head; suddenly the late time of night didn't matter.

Snape sighed the sigh of a very old man. "Do you really want the story tonight? It's very late."

"Yes." Melanie said, not taking her eyes off of the spot on his arm. Neither spoke for a minute, then Snape sighed again, and sat back down, obviously trying to think of a place to start.

"You could always start with that time you were a death eater," Melanie sarcastically prompted him.

"Okay, okay...so. Yes, I was a Death Eater for Voldemort. And for a while, it was great. But then Albus Dumbledore asked me if I wanted to teach here, and act as a go-between for him and the dark lord. I wanted the Dark Mark to leave me, but nothing made it go away. I suppose Voldemort is still slightly with me.

"So you're not fully on the good side?" Melanie asked, on the verge of tears.

"I would think I am..." Snape slowly replied. "But I still have this mark that—"

"How could you be nice to me? Were you trying to get me on i his /i side?" Now Melanie was crying, barely listening to Snape.

"Melanie!! What?? No!" Snape said, reaching out an arm to comfort her.

"No...I can't be here..." she replied, shoving him away, "Goodbye." And with that, she grabbed the cloak and map, and stormed back to the Gryffindor tower. It took a very long time for her to fall asleep, but when she did, she did not wake up until noon the next day, Sunday.


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione saw that Melanie was still asleep before lunchtime, and woke her up. She convinced her to go down to the Great Hall and eat something, but barely got five words out of her. Melanie only glanced at the Head Table, saw that Snape was there, and did not look up from her food anymore.

As they were leaving the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall stopped Melanie, "Dumbledore would like a word with you in his office."

Melanie was so emotionally drained that she simply nodded and slowly headed to the headmaster's office.

"Come in," Dumbledore said, even before she knocked. Melanie pushed the door open, and stepped inside, now beginning to wonder if he knew about her visits with Snape and her discovery about his past.

"Miss Patch," Dumbledore said, "How do you like Hogwarts so far?"

"Oh, it's been wonderful!" she partially lied, then thought that maybe that was all he wanted to know—how she was adjusting to the school.

"No sudden surprises of any kind? You like the professors for all of your classes?"

"My classes are fine," Melanie replied, now thinking that he did know about her and Snape.

"Alright...you may go. But a word of wisdom for you: people can change. And if I trust that they have, there is no reason for you not to."

"Thank you," Melanie said, walking towards the door. While still facing it, she asked, "Why can't he fully lose his connections with Voldemort?"

"Punishment from the Dark Lord for that would be far greater than simply returning to his side. Voldemort despises those who abandon him."

"But how do you know that you can trust Snape?" Melanie asked, returning to her seat, "I mean, wouldn't it just be easy for him to say 'good-bye Hogwarts' and tell Voldemort everything?"

"Yes, I imagine it would be quite easy. But that's where my faith in Severus comes in. I have never encountered a better potions teacher or head of Slytherin than him."

"May I please be excused? I need to talk to a few people," Melanie said. Dumbledore nodded and smiled as she let her self out and headed down to Snape's dungeons.

Somehow, just saying the password and walking in on the person she stormed out on the night before didn't seem right. So Melanie knocked a few times, heard Snape resignedly call "come in," and then let herself in his office.

"Hello professor," Melanie said, again sounding very meek.

"I thought you preferred never to see me again?" Snape asked, barely looking up from the papers he was correcting.

"I talked to Dumbledore." Melanie replied. "I don't know exactly why he trusts you, but I think that he is very wise to."

"Listen...if you just want to forget that you learned everything, I can easily make you a potion." Snape said, heading over to a shelf of ingredients.

"No, no. I actually think I'm happier knowing all this about you."

"Really." Snape replied.

"Yeah...it's great to know how much a person can change, and how much trust you can have in someone. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go regain my trust with Hermione, Ron, and Harry."

Snape actually smiled a broad smile as she left, and called out, "You're welcome here anytime!!"

----

"Now, you three might already know parts of what I'm going to tell you," Melanie said. She had found the three in their usual places in the Gryffindor common room, and told them that she had a lot to sad. "But please don't tell anyone else anything." She then proceeded to explain her absences at meals, Snape's past (which they already knew most of), and then asked if they could start their friendship over. They agreed, Harry thanking her and saying that he was going to think of Snape differently from then on. Melanie grinned her usual smile and walked away, humming a Muggle showtune. Harry and Ron resumed their gaping, and Hermione just laughed, saying "Boys will be boys!"


End file.
